Thursday, January 14, 2010

Back in November, I made a post about an animated movie of the upcoming video game based on the title of a book by Dante. Well, it seems as if the villainy of Electronic Arts knows no bounds. Vladimir's player, who seems to enjoy inflicting mental anguish upon me, sent along a link to a post about a new edition of Inferno (as translated by Longfellow in 1867, if you can believe it) being published to coincide with the release of the video game. In addition to that atrocious cover, the new edition includes a color insert featuring art from the game and a foreword by its executive producer.

I'd love to believe that this edition might inadvertently open up a few minds to the glories of Dante's poetry, but the cynic in me just doesn't believe it.

47 comments:

I'm assuming it is public domain so its not costing them anything but the paper its printed on. So why not try to scrape a few extra bucks out of the project. still exposure is exposure and if it makes one kid read a great book well then I'm ok with it. Now EA just needs to make Video Games versions of The Aeneid, The Sound and The Furry, and Ulysses. Who doesn't want to wander through a virtual early 20th century Dublin.

I sort of gathered that James went off the deep end a while back, actually.

To see a work of literature mangled like this is really, truly morally reprehensible.

Didn't anyone working on this project think that maybe, just to be on the safe side, it might not be a good idea to be associated with this project? You know, just in case there were legions of devils waiting out there, making the tenth layer of Hell for those who torture true works of art.

I'd like to see Sense and Sensibility, the MMO. Or possibly Milton's Paradise Lost done as a driving game where you see heaven and hell as backgrounds. The english major in me wants to cry when I see shite like this.

Not a fan of this myself, but I'm sure that at one time people said similar things about our favorite hobby. Also, I'm not a fan of the "parent" literature here so I'm not going to scream too much.

Just keep in mind that it is a video game and seldom has any video game offered much more than a ton of good fun and flashy graphics. Whatever story is overlayed on it, it's usually about the action or the puzzle.

I've played video games that butchered history, literature, and mythooligy and folklore and had a blast.

While the hobby certainly has its own examples of similarly egregious mangling of its source material, the gorgon is not an example of it. D&D's bull-like gorgon is based on a confusion in the late Middle Ages between the mythical catoblepas and stories of the rhinoceros, resulting in a creature that shared the name of Medusa and her sisters but lacked their characteristics.

I love Dante's Comedy. I recognize it as humanity's single finest literary work.

I am strongly in favor of this sort of cover being available. It will almost certainly get some people to buy it who otherwise would never so much as glance at Dante. And at least a few of those buyers will read it and continue with the Purgatorio and the Paradiso.

"I'd love to believe that this edition might inadvertently open up a few minds to the glories of Dante's poetry, but the cynic in me just doesn't believe it."Ok... otherwise what's the problem?"What's next, "Crime and Punishment the Collectible Card and Token Game"?"No: "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" the Movie, directed by David O. Russel... maybe :) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1374989/

Part of me wonders if WotC is anow a subsidiary of EA. I bet the TV spot includes "This ain't yer father's classic medieval literature" or something similar. They'll probably follow this up with an arcade fighter based on the Ramayana and Dance Dance Revolution clone for Journey to the West. A Guitar Hero expansion inspired by Romance of the Three Kingdoms is likely also in the works.

Actually, I am unashamed to admit that Wickedmurph's idea about a driving game based on Milton is something I can see myself playing the crap out of.

"Grapes of Wrath" the RPG."As you head to California from the dust bowl, who will survive? Can you survive drought, starvation, strikebreakers and the elements form your own "cooperative" and unionize to survive the horrible conditions, or will you become another grave on the road to freedom? PLUS: Stats for the entire Joad family included!"

This book is just a goofy reskinning of the same edition that Penguin and Barnes & Noble publish. I'm not sure where the harm is, if a kid who wouldn't otherwise read the book until college picks it up a few years early. Hell, I haven't read Dante's Inferno yet. Maybe I'll buy a copy of this edition, nyah nyah so there.

"They'll probably follow this up with an arcade fighter based on the Ramayana and Dance Dance Revolution clone for Journey to the West. A Guitar Hero expansion inspired by Romance of the Three Kingdoms is likely also in the works."

Not to spoil a good rant, but I can pick up at least two shovelware Wii games based on Journey to the West at Target for $15 a pop right now, and I've seen about half a dozen others, even if you don't count any of the Dragon Ball games. (The original Dragon Ball anime -- not the Z or GT series -- was inspired by Journey to the West.) And Romance of the Three Kingdoms has inspired not one, but two long-running videogame franchises from Koei: Romance of the Three Kingdoms (natch), and Dynasty Warriors.

Point is, classics are classics because they bear up to reinterpretation. They're not sacred writ -- in fact, they're often the popular entertainment of their time, and that's probably a good portion of why they bear up and stand the test of time in the first place.

Maybe someone might complain that it is different from the game... "Hey! Why Dante is not kikking ass to Malacoda and his fellow devils? There's something wrong!".But I dont understimate the Comedia (expecially the Inferno) ability to fascinate the youth...

I have to be honest, I'm really failing to see the problem here. The text hasn't been altered has it? You can complain that the game or the art aren't true to the text, but anyone reading will be able to make that determination for themselves. If it gets even one kid to read something they would not otherwise have bothered with, isn't that a good thing?

Yes, I have to say, I don't see a problem with this book. The game is likely to be an atrocity, but the book is going to get at least one person reading Dante who wouldn't have done so otherwise, and that strikes me as a good thing. I don't like film/TV/game covers for books, but I don't look down on those who buy them.

(Unless the cover art is really bad, like the US editions of Terry Pratchett's work, but that's a whole other thing.)

Furthermore, I suspect there may be a bit of glasshouses and stones here; I'm sure I'm not the only person to have plundered great works of art to spice up a game session. :)

Anyway, the key point is that this will create more Dante readers. Good.

What's the outrage? As long as this thing gets a single person on Earth discover and appreciate Dante, it was worth it. Snobbery won't get you anywhere, and it certainly won't help a bit in bringing classical lit to the unwashed masses.

Really, Volja? I think that anyone taken by that cover is in for a big letdown when they read Dante. I don't see the unwashed masses feeling more inclined to picking up the book or knowing who Dante was. Did Beowulf fly off the shelves after the movie, boardgame and PC/console game? Not from the local bookstores around me.

I'm surprised it took so long for a Penny Arcade link to show up. I'm not surprised that no one linked to Got Medieval.http://gotmedieval.blogspot.com/search/label/dante's%20inferno:%20the%20gameI wish he tagged more consistently - he's written quite a bit more about this subject.

(1) It's fraudulent marketing. People will be picking this up looking for a continuation of the video game, which it's not. Scams suck. (2) Overall energy towards Dante's work will be negative. While one reader may be gained, a thousand will be turned off and be telling their friends to avoid Dante and that it sucks. Overall loss for the reading communty. (3) Sympathy for the poor bookstore workers (nextautumn above) whose ongoing grief outweighs the "just one more reader" principle.

> It's fraudulent marketing. People will be picking this up looking for a continuation of the video game, which it's not.

Top line, front cover; "The literary classic that inspired".

If someone's happy to blindly hand over their $$$ under the impression that means the book is "a continuation of the video game", well so be it. Other books have been sold in more dubious covers and it didn't scar their readers for life or even stop 'em from being drawn in hook, line and sinker. Got lions and emus... only in Hobbiton. Apparently. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1274/1290165828_77b1155c66.jpgTo say nothing of http://mysite.verizon.net/aznirb/mtr/oop/ace_return.jpg - darn, don't they know it should have a knob on the end: Gandalf ain't going to get anywhere waving that around, methinks.

Ah... any comments on the "What I'm reading update" in that context? And it /is/ a BGS this time... :)Will stick to the http://www.flickr.com/photos/jvk/4132481515/in/set-72157622794027335/ version on the shelf here, anyhow. ;)

James, I have similar feelings toward the upcoming Clash of the Titans remake.

Yes, I saw those trailers and they left me thinking -- and I can barely believe I'm saying this -- "Did they not understand the original film?" Whereas the original was a sword-and-sorcery film with basic plot was (largely) consonant with Greek mythology, this new one looks to be a video game-y action film with a lame will-to-power subtext about defying the will of the gods. I'm not quite clear why they're bothering to "remake" Clash of the Titans when the new film deviates from it significantly.

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